tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16646992.post5867393165245952719..comments2023-10-14T23:56:22.016-10:00Comments on Reflecting Light: Out of ArizonaRick Darbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371910140619422820noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16646992.post-49578174182370245672010-05-20T05:59:32.711-10:002010-05-20T05:59:32.711-10:00Van Wijk,
Well, it's not that bad. I didn'...Van Wijk,<br /><br />Well, it's not that bad. I didn't get the impression Tucson has been <i>conquered</i>. Just that it is more of a haves versus have-nots city than it used to be, and that the well-off are increasingly to be found on the periphery east and northwest.<br /><br />MaryJ,<br /><br />I empathize with you. One of the worst things that has happened to the country in the past 40 years is the virtual disappearance of solid, decent lower middle class and working class neighborhoods and towns. Thanks to population replacement and economic changes, with every passing year the U.S. moves toward a Third World–like division between a mandarin upper class and masses of the beaten-down and dependent.<br /><br />Wahrheit,<br /><br />I'm glad you got the same impression in Arizona about the residents' determination. I was worried that I might have been generalizing from insufficient data.Rick Darbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02371910140619422820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16646992.post-83452498251272886542010-05-19T09:35:15.038-10:002010-05-19T09:35:15.038-10:00I returned nine days ago from a week's vacatio...I returned nine days ago from a week's vacation in Arizona and I love the state--if I didn't have such a good job in Alaska I would probably be moving there.<br /><br />Talked to a good number of people and read a lot about 1070 and I will back up your reading that there is a sense of grim determination, of taking a stand that the problem must be addressed <i>now</i>. Also, the threatened boycotts are merely hardening this determination.Robert Pearsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01357942424904415208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16646992.post-47188792621955450152010-05-19T05:37:57.480-10:002010-05-19T05:37:57.480-10:00I've seen it happen three times: my birth city...I've seen it happen three times: my birth city, the small town I grew up in, and the working class but decent suburb I lived in for 17 years. The church my parents supported for 35 years once had ONE Spanish language service on Sunday evenings. When I went back to visit a few years ago, the church bulletin and most church literature on display in the vestibule were in Spanish.<br /><br />My birth city is now a notorious gangland province, with a homicide per capita rate that is the same as Mexico's. When I was born, it was a nice place for a family of modest means to raise their kids. Humble, but clean, safe and nice.MaryJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16646992.post-84242964666960009072010-05-19T00:51:59.001-10:002010-05-19T00:51:59.001-10:00Your recent posts have been very painful to read. ...Your recent posts have been very painful to read. I was born in Tucson, and raised there and across the Southwest. I've not seen the place in around 5 years.<br /><br />I'd venture to say that very few in the blogosphere know what it feels like to have their home city <i>conquered</i>. It's a crushing feeling. And it inspires incredible rage.Van Wijknoreply@blogger.com